Christmas Songs continued

Merry Christmas everyone!

We've had a good set of celebrations around our house and with our family.

Let me offer you another song that helps me get in a proper Christmas mindset this time of year.

Wednesday Worship

As I wrote last week, there comes a point where I feel myself being drained by all the Christmas stuff that is going on. Certain Christmas things can be reenergizing though. Near the top of the list is the music. But not all Christmas music. I find a few specific selections tend to refuel my tank. 

Today's sample is a classic Christmas hymn that can send chills down your spine if a great vocalist is singing it (David Phelps and CeCe Winans are to recent examples). And yet the heart of this song is worship. Even more specifically, it's a call for people to worship together - corporate worship.

The best version to capture all of that is one I know I've featured here before. Chris Tomlin, from his Christmas album of ten years ago - "Glory in the Highest":

Thursday Thoughts

We are in the throes of the Christmas season it would seem. 

With all of the extra programs and specials and events that churches tend to have around Advent, it can be a tiresome stretch for pastors. My church doesn't have too many extra things going on typically. But even just adding in family plans can pile stress on top of stress.

Pretty much every year there comes a point where I feel myself being drained by it all. Certain Christmas things can be reenergizing though. Near the top of the list is the music. But not all Christmas music. I find a few specific selections tend to refuel my tank. I'll probably feature several over the next week and a half, but here's one I've always enjoyed, Breath of Heaven by Amy Grant. It's a beautiful, simple song entreating the Lord for his grace and presence.

Wednesday Wisdom - Getting Boosted

 

I got my COVID Vaccine booster shot yesterday. And I don't feel good.

Originally I received the Moderna vaccine last March and April. Both times I felt half-sick and sluggish for several hours later but by the next day I was back to normal. Today I still feel some soreness achy-ness but nothing some ibuprofen can't handle. I did a decent 20 minute cardio Pre-Core workout yesterday too - so some of this is undoubtedly due to my body complaining of the exercise after a holiday week of laziness.

What experts have said about what I'm experiencing is that it's pretty normal and that it is my immune system adapting to prep and fight the COVID strain. 

Clearly, I'm pro-vaccine in a time where strangely, our society that has made medical health a political issue. "You can't tell me what I do with my body" scream people who are predominantly anti-abortion. Masks and life-saving medicine are eschewed for personal freedom. I think that is a gravely mistaken position to hold. 

This is a personal choice, but it is not only a personally choice. Even if you don't feel the serious effects of this virus, even if you are healthy and trust in 'natural immunity' - this isn't just about you. This is about the people you can infect who don't have immune systems as strong as yours. This is about the people who contract it from the people you infect who are also a-symptomatic. 

Theologically, this is about "loving your neighbor". I wish I would have understood and communicated this earlier as the pandemic was just settling in. Wearing a mask and getting vaxxed is a way to love others by drastically reducing the chances of getting them sick. Despite what our American mindset has told us, our individual rights are not supreme. We have responsibilities to others - God even calls us to dramatically love others (Matt. 5:43-48, John 13:34-35).

I thought about trying to link to all of the relevant peer-reviewed medical research to supplement my points. I thought about offering you up the clear preponderance of evidence that my above statements are factually true. That information is out there and has been out there for awhile now, and if it hasn't convinced you and this post has triggered you, you have my sympathies.

In my mind, a night of semi-sore sleep and a day-and-a-half of feeling a tad below average is a small price to pay for inoculating myself against this deadly virus and protecting others from contracting it from me. That's what it comes down to.